Manufacturing method of a heat sink

ABSTRACT

A manufacturing method of a heat sink is disclosed. A board having a first width is transported to a machine tool. The board is punched to form multiple sheet bodies. A bent part is formed on a terminal end of each sheet body having a second width. A first combined part protrudes from the bent part. A second combined part is hollowly disposed on the edge of the bent part as an indentation corresponding to the first combined part. The bent part is bent to stand correspondingly to each of the sheet bodies. Each sheet body is cut to form multiple heat dissipation fins. The second width is equal to the first width. When the heat dissipation fins overlap with each other, the first combined part of one heat dissipation fin is connected to the second combined part of another dissipation fin.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application claims priority of Taiwan Patent Application No. 096118929, filed on May 28, 2007, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.

The present application is a continuation-in-part application of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/111,731, filed Apr. 29, 2008, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a manufacturing method of a heat sink, and more particularly to a heat sink manufacturing method capable of decreasing waste of materials.

2. Description of the Related Art

With rapid advancements in science and technology, electronic device functions continually increase. As such, the amount of electrical elements increases and resulting heat accumulates in such electronic devices, increasing the heat dissipation requirements. Therefore, heat-dissipating efficiency of the electronic devices directly affects reliability and lifetime of the electronic devices.

The heat sink is a common structure applied to heat dissipation. A conventional fin is shown in FIG. 1. The fin 1 includes a sheet body 10. One end of the sheet body 10 is bent to form a bent part 11. The bent part 11 and the other end of the sheet body 10 respectively includes two buckling units 12. Each buckling unit 12 includes two buckles 121, 122. An opening 13 extending to the sheet body 10 is formed between each of the two buckles 121, 122. The buckling units 12 of one fin 1 are connected to the buckling units 12 of another fin 1, thus, the fins 1 overlap with each other to form a heat sink.

Referring to FIG. 2, when manufacturing the conventional fin 1, a board 20 is sent to a punching machine. Four fixing position points 21 are chosen in four corners of the board 20. Fixing position pins pass through the fixing position points 21 and then spread and fix the board 20. The flat structure of the fin 1 in FIG. 1 is formed after the board 20 is punched by the punching machine. The manufacturing method of the conventional fin 1 includes a step of fixing the board 20 by using the four fixing position pins to pass through the four position points 21 and ensure the position of the fin 1. Precision is especially required when several fins overlap with each other to form the heat sink. As the intervals of two adjacent fins 1 are determined by the distance D1 between a side 14 and a bent line 15 of fin 1. If the board 20 is not fixed by the fixing position pins, tolerance of the intervals will be generated, and the heat sink will not provide appropriate heat dissipating efficiency.

However, such manufacturing method requires providing fixing position pins to fix the board 20, and thus, the portion drawn by oblique lines in FIG. 2 becomes waste of materials after completing the fin 1, resulting in higher costs.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention provides a manufacturing method of a heat sink. The method comprises steps of transporting a board to a machine tool, wherein the board has a first width; punching the board to form a plurality of sheet bodies, wherein a bent part is formed on a terminal end of each of the sheet bodies, each of the sheet bodies has a second width, a first combined part protrudes from the bent part, and a second combined part is hollowly disposed on the edge of the bent part as an indentation corresponding to the first combined part; bending the bent part to stand correspondingly to each of the sheet bodies; and cutting each of the sheet bodies to form a plurality of heat dissipation fins; wherein the second width of each sheet body is equal to the first width of the board, when the heat dissipation fins overlap with each other, the first combined part of one heat dissipation fin is connected adjacently to the second combined part of another dissipation fin, and an interval between each two heat dissipation fins is determined by a distance between a first side of the first combined part and a second side of the second combined part.

Another exemplary embodiment of the invention provides a manufacturing method of a heat sink. The method comprises steps of: transporting a board to a machine tool, wherein the board has a first width; punching the board to form a plurality of sheet bodies, wherein a bent part is formed on a terminal end of each of the sheet bodies, each of the sheet bodies has a second width, a first combined part protrudes from the bent part; bending the bent part to stand correspondingly to each of the sheet bodies; and cutting each of the sheet bodies to form a plurality of heat dissipation fins; wherein the second width of each sheet body is equal to the first width of the board, when the heat dissipation fins overlap with each other, the first combined part of one heat dissipation fin is adjacently stacked up with the bent part of another heat dissipation fin, and an interval between each two heat dissipation fins is determined by a distance between a third side on the overlap with of heat dissipation fins and a first side of the first combined part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a conventional fin;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a board to be punched in the manufacturing process of a conventional fin;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an embodiment of a heat dissipation fin of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows that a flow schematic illustration of the heat dissipation fin of the present invention when a board is transported to a machine tool and punched;

FIG. 5 shows that a flow schematic illustration of the heat dissipation fin of the invention when a bent part is bent corresponding to a sheet body;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of a heat dissipation fin of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a plurality of heat dissipation fins of the present invention to be combined;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of another embodiment of a heat dissipation fin of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a manufacturing process of the heat dissipation fin of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an embodiment of a heat dissipation fin of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of a heat dissipation fin of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, a heat dissipation fin 3 includes a sheet body 30, at least a bent part 31 and at least a first combined part 32. The bent part 31 is formed from the terminal end of the sheet body 30. The first combined part 32 protrudes from the bent part 31. The protruding direction is opposite to the bent direction of the bent part 31.

The material of the sheet body 30 includes copper, aluminum, iron, magnesium or alloys thereof. Two bent parts 31 are formed from two terminal ends of the sheet body 30. Four first combined parts 32 protrude from two opposite sides of the bent part 31. The first combined parts 32 are formed on suitable positions (determined according to the design requirements) of four corners of the sheet body 30 by digging four gaps 33. Thus, when bending the bent parts 31, the first combined parts 32 respectively protrude along directions different from the bent direction of the bent parts 31.

In addition, two second combined parts 34 are hollowly disposed on the bent parts 31 and the second combined parts 34 are disposed corresponding to the first combined parts 32. Thus, the first combined parts 32 of the heat dissipation fin 3 are fixed to the second combined parts 34 of other heat dissipation fins 3 via welding or other methods. When one heat dissipation fin 3 is combined with other heat dissipation fins 3, an interval between the two heat dissipation fins 3 is determined by the distance D2 between a first side 35 of the first combined parts 32 and a second side 36 of second combined parts 34.

The manufacturing process of the heat dissipation fin 3 is illustrated for stressing the features of the present invention.

FIGS. 4 to 6 are flow schematic illustration of the heat dissipation fin of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, a board 40 is transported to a machine tool (not shown). Here, the board 40 has a first width 40D. In this embodiment, the machine tool is a punching machine. After the board 40 is placed into the machine tool, the board 40 is punched via a mold corresponding to the shape of the heat dissipation fin 3. Here, the sheet body 30 of the heat dissipation fin 3 has a second width 30D. Specifically, the second width 30D of the sheet body 30 is equal to the first width 40D of the board 40.

Note that a plurality of breaches 41 are formed on the board 40 and suitable distances are provided as the spaces between adjacent breaches 41. The suitable distances can be equal or unequal. The suitable distances are determined according to requirements. For example, when the spaces are determined, each space between breaches 41 may be 7 cm or the intervals of the breaches 41 may be 7 cm, 5 cm and 7 cm in order. The breaches 41 may be V-shaped, semi-elliptic-shaped, concave-shaped, U-shaped, semicircle-shaped or trapezoid. In this embodiment, the breaches 41 are V-shaped. A cutting line 42 is formed between the troughs of the two vertical opposite breaches 41. A bent line 37 is formed between the troughs of the two horizontal opposite breaches 41. In this embodiment, the transporting direction of the machine tool is parallel to the bent line 37. Moreover, the bent line 37 is perpendicular to the cutting line 42.

Referring to FIG. 5, the bent part 31 of the punched board 40 is bent to 90 degrees along the bent line 37 via a bending tool. Thus, the first combined part 32 protrudes along a direction different from the bent direction of the bent part 31. Then, the punched board 40 is cut along the cutting line 42 via a cutting tool. Finally, the heat dissipation fin 3 is manufactured as shown in FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 7, when a plurality of dissipation fins 3 is overlapped, the first combined part 32 of one of the heat dissipation fins 3 is fixed to the second combined part 34 of another one of the heat dissipation fin 3. The heat sink is formed by assembling several heat dissipation fins 3. The combination method may be laser welding, gluing, adhering, or buckling, but is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Note that the interval between two adjacent heat dissipation fins is determined by the distance D2 between the first side 35 and the second side 36. The intervals between the two adjacent heat dissipation fins 3 may be changed according to special manufacturing requirements. For example, the range of the interval may be from distance D2 minus 1 mm to distance D2 plus 1 mm. The distance D2 is determined in advance when the mold is designed. Thus, the distance D2 between the first side 35 and the second side 36 of each of the heat dissipation fin 3 is constant. The precision of the size of the heat dissipation fin 3 is not affected. Moreover, in the present invention, the fixing pins are not used. Thus, the board 40 in the present invention does not need to reserve the area inserted by the fixing pins. The manufacturing method of the present invention does not generate scrap, thus decreasing overall costs. Furthermore, as the second width 30D of the sheet body 30 is equal to the first width 40D of the board 40, no wasted material is generated during manufacturing of the heat dissipation fin 3.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of another embodiment of a heat dissipation fin of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 8, a heat dissipation fin 5 includes a sheet body 50, at least a bent part 51, at least a first combined part 52, and at least a gap 53. The structure of this embodiment is similar to that of heat dissipation fin 3 in FIG. 3. The main difference is that the bent part 51 of the heat dissipation fin 5 of this embodiment lacks the second combined part 34 (shown in FIG. 3). Thus, for example, when one heat dissipation fin 5 is combined with another heat dissipation fin 5, the first combined part 52 of the second heat dissipation fin 5 is connected to the bent part 51 of the first heat dissipation fin 5 (a dotted line in the bent part 51). Thus, a third side 55 is formed. In this embodiment, the interval of the two adjacent heat dissipation fins 5 is determined by the distance D3 between the third side 55 and the first side 54 of the first combined part 52. Similarly, the range of the interval may be from distance D3 minus 1 mm to distance D3 plus 1 mm. The manufacturing method of the heat dissipation fin 5 is similar to that of the heat dissipation fin 3. The difference is that in this embodiment, different molds are used from the previous embodiment. Given the similarity, the description of the manufacturing method is omitted for brevity.

Additionally, the aforementioned manufacturing process of the heat sink or heat dissipation fin 3 can be shown by steps S1 to S4 of FIG. 9. First, transporting a board to a machine tool S1, wherein the board has a first width; second, punching the board to form a plurality of sheet bodies S2, wherein a bent part is formed on a terminal end of each of the sheet bodies, each of the sheet bodies has a second width; third, bending the bent part to stand correspondingly to each of the sheet bodies S3; and then cutting each of the sheet bodies to form a plurality of heat dissipation fins S4.

The intervals between the two heat dissipation fins of the present invention are determined in advance if the heat dissipation fins are combined. Thus, the heat dissipation fin of the present invention does not generate scrap which is reserved and inserted by the fixing pins, ensuring the precision of the heat sink and decreasing costs. When the heat dissipation fins are combined, error is prevented to ensure the accuracy. Further, unnecessary scrap decreases.

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements. 

1. A manufacturing method of a heat sink, wherein the method comprises steps of: transporting a board to a machine tool, wherein the board has a first width; punching the board to form a plurality of sheet bodies, wherein a bent part is formed on a terminal end of each of the sheet bodies, each of the sheet bodies has a second width, a first combined part protrudes from the bent part, and a second combined part is hollowly disposed on the edge of the bent part as an indentation corresponding to the first combined part; bending the bent part to stand correspondingly to each of the sheet bodies; and cutting each of the sheet bodies to form a plurality of heat dissipation fins; wherein the second width of each sheet body is equal to the first width of the board, when the heat dissipation fins overlap with each other, the first combined part of one heat dissipation fin is connected adjacently to the second combined part of another dissipation fin, and an interval between each two heat dissipation fins is determined by a distance between a first side of the first combined part and a second side of the second combined part.
 2. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the machine tool is a punching machine, or a material of the heat sink comprises copper, aluminum, iron, magnesium or alloys thereof.
 3. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising forming a plurality of breaches when punching the board, and a suitable distance between the breaches is determined.
 4. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the breaches are V-shaped, semi-elliptic shaped, concave-shaped, U-shaped, semicircle-shaped or trapezoid.
 5. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising bending the bent part along troughs of any two breaches disposed horizontally and correspondingly to form a bent line, or bending the bent part along troughs of any two breaches disposed vertically and correspondingly to form a cutting line.
 6. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the two heat dissipation fins are combined, the first combined part of one heat dissipation fin is combined with the second combined part of another heat dissipation fin via laser spot welding, gluing, adhering, or buckling.
 7. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the interval between the two heat dissipation fins are a distance between the first side and the second side, and the tolerance is 0.1 millimeter.
 8. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the transporting direction of the machine tool is parallel to the bent line.
 9. A manufacturing method of a heat sink, wherein the method comprises steps of: transporting a board to a machine tool, wherein the board has a first width; punching the board to form a plurality of sheet bodies, wherein a bent part is formed on a terminal end of each of the sheet bodies, each of the sheet bodies has a second width, a first combined part protrudes from the bent part; bending the bent part to stand correspondingly to each of the sheet bodies; and cutting each of the sheet bodies to form a plurality of heat dissipation fins; wherein the second width of each sheet body is equal to the first width of the board, when the heat dissipation fins overlap with each other, the first combined part of one heat dissipation fin is adjacently stacked up with the bent part of another heat dissipation fin, and an interval between each two heat dissipation fins is determined by a distance between a third side on the overlap with of heat dissipation fins and a first side of the first combined part.
 10. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the machine tool is a punching machine, or a material of the heat sink comprises copper, aluminum, iron, magnesium or alloys thereof.
 11. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising forming a plurality of breaches when punching the board, and a suitable distance between the breaches is determined.
 12. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the breaches are V-shaped, semi-elliptic-shaped, concave-shaped, U-shaped, semicircle-shaped or trapezoid.
 13. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising bending the bent part along troughs of any two breaches disposed horizontally and correspondingly to form a bent line.
 14. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising bending the bent part along troughs of any two breaches disposed vertically and correspondingly to form a cutting line.
 15. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the transporting direction of the machine tool is parallel to the bent line.
 16. The manufacturing method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the bent line is perpendicular to the cutting line. 